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Thursday, February 16, 2012

If you had to pick one book, what would it be?

World Book Night will be celebrated in the U.S., U.K., and Ireland on April 23. The mission is to spread the pleasure of reading by having "book givers" go out and give books to people who may not be readers. How they are to determine who is a reader or not and where they will give out their books is up to each giver.

I am going to be one of the givers. Each giver chose 3 out of the 30 featured books and we will get 20 copies of one of the titles we picked to give away. I would like to give my books to women, where and how I'm still figuring out, but having that in mind helped me to think about which books I chose. Now, of the 30 titles, which did I think a grown women, who may not read a lot, enjoy? Which book would I want to receive?

I wanted a book about positive women and/or a strong message for women. By a woman would be good, but not required. I wanted a good story. And I thought it most responsible to choose a book that I have read, because there were some others that probably fit my criteria, but I hadn't read them.

A few I considered:The Poisonwood Bible - one of my all-time favorite books, but I thought it was a bit long for someone who may not read that muchThe Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - although I've heard wonderful reviews (professional and regular people) and thought it would be educational, I haven't read it yetA Reliable Wife - a good story, but she wasn't really a positive woman, was she?

And these are the three I chose:I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou - its a story about the beginnings of a strong, creative, beautiful women, a phenomenal poet, and one of our national treasures, who wouldn't want to read it?Kindred by Octavia Butler - a little bit of sci-fi and history wrapped up togetherLittle Bee by Chris Cleave - because it made me laugh, cry, and wiggle my fingers as I sat on the beach

Take a look at the 30 books on the World Book Night website. Do you agree with my choices or would you have picked something different?

(I think I find out what book I get sometime next week - check back and to see which one it is.)

UPDATE 2/29: my book is I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou!

1 comment:

Great blog post! Never heard of World Book Night. Learned something new. Wish you posted this sooner so I could have taken advantage of it. Anywho, my 3 choices would have been:1. Little Bee : I agree it was a great book that made you wiggle your toes.2. Because of Winn Dixie: This was Blake's favorite book in elementary school. This is the book that got her to love reading.3. The Lovely Bones: chilling, gripping, made me mad, sad, and every emotion in between.